FBJ virus-induced osteosarcoma has type V collagen consisting of A, B and C-like chains in addition to type I collagen

A study was carried out on collagen chains of FBJ virus-induced osteosarcoma. Collagens were extracted from pepsin-digested tissues and fractionated by differential salt precipitation. An acidic 0.7 M NaCl precipitate contained type I, type I trimer and/or type III collagens. Collagen fractions precipitated at acidic 1.2 M NaCl showed features characteristic of type V collagen consisting of three chains (mol. weights of which were 120K, 110K and 100K daltons). None of these chains, however, was identical to any of the B, C or A chains reported by Sage et al. in 1979 (1), judging from amino acid composition, cyanogen bromide cleavage and phosphocellulose chromatography data.